It has been known for many years that individuals are physically and psychologically affected by different light frequencies, colors, strobe lights, flashing lights, light intensities, daily light duration and light deprivation. Recently, members of both the medical and pharmaceutical research realms have been conducting experiments and developing new light therapies in conjunction with drugs in the treatment of disease. For example, in the treatment of tumors, light is being used to activate substances that cause necrosis of the tumorous tissue. Light is also being used to activate drugs that are therapeutic, as well as to eliminate side effects of certain drug therapies.
It is believed by many today, including the inventors, that stress is a root cause or foundation of many human ailments and debilitating conditions. It is a significant part of the present invention to prevent and treat stress by improved colored lighting techniques and equipment. The quantitative measurement of the effects of colored light therapies, as well as which color light treatments work best for a given individual, are important parts of the present invention. The exact dosage of colored light in the treatment of painful symptoms is critical and, therefore, must be quantified.
One of the major drawbacks of past colored light-therapy treatments has been the inability to quantitatively measure the effects that these therapies and regimens have upon the patients being treated. Treated individuals have experienced and felt a therapeutic difference during light therapy; many have been positively affected. However, to date it has not been possible to definitively and quantitatively determine the exact effects attributable to colored light treatments.
While it has been known for some time that individuals respond differently to colored light-therapy, the various treatments have, therefore, been conducted on an experimental, subjective, and sometimes hit-and-miss basis. This was particularly the case when such colored light therapies were combined with drug treatments, in order to relieve stress, as well as other, painful and related ailments. Different drugs were tried until the right drug and the right dosage fit a particular individual and situation, as the nervous system reacts differently to different dosages of colored light and drugs.
The present invention seeks to provide a means of measuring and recording both the physiological and psychological effects of colored light upon an individual. Such measurements quantify the effects that a particular treatment has upon the level of an individual's stress. Therefore, the inventive system provides the means by which specific colored light therapies can be scientifically and medically legitimized in the treatment and reduction of stress.
The current invention is a system that marries the colored light-testing machine, or, imagescope, of the aforementioned patent, with an apparatus that both physiologically monitors and records. This new apparatus will be referred to hereinafter as an "electrostressograph" (ESG). Individuals are treated with varying light colors, frequencies and patterns; the resultant physiological effects are then measured and recorded. In 1his fashion, what effect(s) the experimental colored light therapies and light treatments are having upon an individual can now be scientifically determined. With the aid of the electrostressograph, medications can now be tested to determine the efficacy of a particular type of drug upon a stress level being experienced by an individual.
A major component of the electrostressograph can comprise a glove to be worn by the patient during a particular colored light therapy or light treatment. The glove contains electrodes for measuring various bodily functions, such as temperature, skin conduction, blood pressure, etc. The patient may also be connected to an electromyelograph, an electroencephalograph, an electrocardiograph, an evoked-potential device, etc. A physiological monitoring system for analyzing the signals received from the electrodes can be a Johnson & Johnson (Model I-330) system, comprising modality modules that interface with, and which are controlled by, a computer.
An imagescope is used to bathe the patient with light of different colors, intensities and patterns. The same computer that controls the modality modules is also programmed so as to provide several different colored light-therapy sequences or treatments. A peripheral printer connected to the computer produces a printout, or, "electrostressogram," during the treatment. The computer is programmed to receive many different kinds of scientific, medical data. The computer processes this data in order to provide a diagnostic and therapeutic overview in both the diagnosis and the treatment of many physical and mental illnesses.
The imagescope may take the form of a multicolored television console, having a central mirror that can be attached to the surface thereof. The colored console can issue many different shades or patterns of color. The multicolored console can also comprise a cathode ray tube, around which an indwelling mirror is positioned. The imagescope can be designed as a colored, light-therapy stand, as is explained hereinafter.
A remote control can be manually used to change colors (i.e., white, red, orange, brown, green, yellow, blue, purple and gray, and other patterns of colors), as well as patterns thereof. The console's color intensity can be manually adjusted by the remote control. However, it may be more convenient to control the colored light sequence by the computer, since its software contains routines that automatically adjust colored light bathing, intensities and patterns. A strobing or flashing of color sequence is also contained in the routine.
Working the computer pad or keyboard, a doctor or technician sits behind the patient. The doctor or technician controls the remote control for changing the colors, and designates a color light-control sequence by typing the instructions into the computer keyboard.
The patient sits in a chair in front of the imagescope. Electrodes from the sensing system are attached to the patient, as aforementioned, who is enclosed in a curtained, light-free space, and is receiving only colored light that is emitted from the imagescope.
A remote-controlled camera or camcorder is perched atop the imagescope console and directed towards the patient's face, as the patient's facial expressions are photographed and recorded during "imageoscopy" testing. Data of pupillary reactions to the colors tested are also observed and recorded by the camera, as are changes in respiration. The sensing system can detect changes in blood pressure and store the data in computer memory, as well as provide a printout, or, electrostressogram.
The final printout, or electrostressogram, contains all of the sensed and recorded data, along with analyses thereof. Therapies are thus fashioned, using various forms of psychological therapies and/or drug treatments that are measured according to the color light sequences designated by the electrostressograph equipment. Certain tints of colors can be analyzed for their effects upon a patient's stress level. Drugs that have a calmative effect can be equated to different medications that neutralize specific amounts of stress in the patient. Correct color dosing can be established by measuring the quantitative decrease in stress that each color dosage has upon a patient. In this respect, the electrostressograph provides a means of properly dosing with colored light and/or drugs that was heretofore unavailable in the treatment of stress and related problems.